Tuesday

Dispatches: Weekly TV newsCBS’s board of directors has denied former chairman and CEO, Leslie Moonves, the $120 million severance he was owed under his employment contract. The decision comes after a five-month internal investigation of Moonves’ conduct and the corporate culture at CBS, which concluded that there are grounds to terminate for cause. Moonves was forced out in early September after sexual assault and misconduct allegations were made against him, many of which he has denied.

Starting in fall 2019, “Extra” will move from NBC owned-and-operated stations to Fox in seven major markets. The syndicated news magazine is a lead-in for NBC’s scripted original shows, leaving the network with an hour to fill before primetime in those markets.

Contenders: Shows to keep on your radarAs the holiday approaches, it’s mostly repeats on the schedule, but there are a few original programming notes to get you through the “encore” presentations. On PBS, “Call the Midwife Holiday Special” will screen on Christmas Day (9 p.m. ET) and NOVA’s “Apollo’s Daring Mission” will air Dec. 26 (9 p.m. ET). On “Midwife,” festive preparations are in full swing at Nonnatus House as the midwives tend to expectant mothers and deal with the unexpected arrival of four abandoned Chinese orphans while NOVA looks at the inside story of the first manned-mission to the moon. Told from the perspective of Apollo 8 astronauts and engineers, it recounts the risky plan to turn the mission from an earth-orbit to a moon landing.

Acorn TV airs the U.S. premiere of season 12 of “Murdoch Mysteries” on Dec. 24 while Netflix offers an animated adaptation of the classic novel, “Watership Down,” on Dec. 23, featuring the voices of James McAvoy (“X-Men”), John Boyega (“Star Wars”), and Daniel Kaluuya (“Black Panther”).

On NBC, two new episodes of “I Feel Bad” will air back-to-back on Dec. 27, starting at 8 p.m. ET. A new “Midnight Texas,” (8 p.m. ET) followed by an original “Dateline NBC” (9 p.m.) will air on Dec. 28.

Because there’s always room for a holiday classic or two, NBC will broadcast “It’s A Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve (8 p.m. ET). Tag along with George Bailey and his visiting angel as he shows George the value of life. On Christmas Day, it’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” (8 p.m. ET) with all the Whos from Whoville learning that the spirit of Christmas can never be stolen.

If Marvel series are your jam, “Runaways” debuts its second season on Hulu (Dec. 21). This season, the teenage characters literally run away from their terrible parents and learn to count on one another to survive.

Currently streaming and good for some laughs are “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” the story of a 1950s housewife who decides to become a stand-up comic (Amazon), and “Ellen DeGeneres: Relatable,” the real-life comedian’s first special in 15 years (Netflix).

Report Card: A look at ratings winners and losersWinners: “The Good Place” has been renewed.

Losers: CBS has decided not to order additional episodes of “Murphy Brown” and “Happy Together.” Melissa Crawley is the author of “Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television’s ‘The West Wing.’” She has a Ph.D. in media studies and is a member of the Television Critics Association. To comment on Stay Tuned, email her at staytuned@outlook.com or follow her on Twitter at @MelissaCrawley.

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